New school fee policy leaves students confused and racing to pay

For the 2016-2017 school year, the Aurora Board of Education implemented a new school fees policy barring students from non-essential purchases until fees are paid in full.

Previously, dance tickets and parking passes could be bought without student fees being paid, but the growing tab of fees began to cause concern for the administration.

“We had parents that owed over $1,000 at graduation,” said Aurora City Schools Superintendent Pat Ciccantelli. “This is an extreme hardship since this problem had been left for so long. We felt that by having incentives to help parents pay their fees in a more timely way it will help eliminate these large fees at the end of their child's senior year.”

The Board uses fees to pay for student supplies, technology, AP tests, and other school expenses. Despite specific taxes for school use, the school relies heavily on fees to buy necessary supplies.

“This policy is helping us collect outstanding fees so we can use the money to spend on our programs and supplies. We believe it is fair since the majority of our parents pay on time,” said Ciccantelli.

However, if most parents pay on time, this policy would be unnecessary. Parents were informed in four ways: letter home with report cards last year, announcements in the spring, opening letter to families this year, and the first All Call to families. However, it was never communicated that there were accommodations for the financially challenged.

Principal Paul Milcetich said. “ If appropriate, we can set up a payment plan with a down payment, and the students are able to purchase their pass. We set up these arrangements in a very confidential manner.”

In fact, it was so confidential that no one was aware of it.

Despite the multiple announcements, there was a haze surrounding the new rules. Without clearly defined guidelines, the new policy left students confused.

Senior Natalie Briggs said, “They never made it clear that both past fees and the current year's fees needed to be paid. Not to mention, I don’t get to choose the parking lot I want because other students have the money to pay their fees immediately.”

Student drivers like Briggs were at a disadvantage; drivers were not informed of the new parking pass policy until it was time to buy the passes. There was confusion to the end date to the grace period for parking without a pass.

Underclassmen are also directly affected by this new measure, even if they are not student drivers.

“Some students are in tough financial situations that are not recognized,” Sophomore Sophia Longo said. “I don’t think that these students should miss out on vital high school experiences like homecoming because of this new rule.”

Homecoming is a tradition. The Administration deemed these events non-essential, but for the average high schooler, these events can not be missed.

All in all, the policy has a valid foundation, but there might be a better way to coax school fees from graduating seniors. Maybe it was one too many changes at once, but the combination of new parking policies and the new school fees policy have left high school students discombobulated in the new year.